(Dr. Sean Studer and Dr. Syra Madad, seated left-to-right in a nondescript room and the camera sees both of them. Dr. Madad is holding a microphone and speaks first.)

I'm Dr. Syra Madad and I'm New York City Health and Hospital's director of systems-wide special pathogens program and as you know, we are in the middle of a severe flu season. I engaged ASPR TRACIE (pronounced ǽspər trési), knowing that they are the gateway of various resources for emergency preparedness. I reached out to see if they had any templates or tools related to flu seasonal management. Now I'm going to hand it off to Dr. Sean Studer to provide some more information.

(Dr. Madad hands the microphone to Dr. Sean Studer).

Thanks, Syra.

I'm Dr. Sean Studer, the deputy chief medical officer for NYC Health and Hospitals and really what we were looking to learn is how to set up a surge space.

(Dr. Madad is nodding head to indicate the affirmative or agreement with Dr. Studer)

We have abilities already to flex within our buildings--staff spaces that are not fully staffed--but leaving the building and working in tents, working in pop-up structures, is not something we have a depth of experience yet, so we're seeking the ability to do that and learning from others.

Hopefully we can skip some of the early mistakes we might otherwise make.

(Dr. Studer and Dr. Madad nod heads indicating agreement with Dr. Studer’s comment. Dr. Studer and Dr. Madad look off camera to the moderator who asks the following question, also off camera)

Moderator question: in terms of what you've learned since starting this endeavor, what are some of the first things you'll do to implement the surge facility? (End question.)

(Dr. Studer nods his head and begins speaking. Dr. Madad also nods her head throughout Dr Studer talking).

One of the first things for us is we would like to try to do it sooner—we don't want to be forced into it at the moment it's absolutely essential. We'd like to try to get it up and running and really pilot it a bit with our staff so even if it's not needed at a certain facility, that might be the time to actually try it, so when it is needed we've been through some of the lumps and bumps and can have a smooth process.

(Dr. Studer hands the microphone to Dr. Madad).

We were able to engage different healthcare systems like MedStar and Grady through the help of ASPR TRACIE to look at some best practices and any tips and recommendations they have for us.

(Dr. Madad hands the microphone to Dr. Studer).

Yeah, the advantage for working with Lehigh Valley is the proximity to us, the fact that they're quite experienced in doing this year over year, and that when we set up our space, we might actually be able to get them to come in and give us some real-time advice about what we could do better.

(Both speakers look at each other and nod and look at the camera and nod.)

The camera fades to a graphic with a gray background and the ASPR and ASPR TRACIE logos on the bottom that says: Contact ASPR TRACIE: ASPRtracie.hhs.gov, 844-5-TRACIE, askasprtracie@hhs.gov. There is no audio over this graphic.

The image changes to another image – black background with a white HHS logo that says *Produced at U.S. taxpayer expense. With audio that says: Produced at U.S. taxpayer expense by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.